About Get A First Life

Get A First Life is a travel and lifestyle blog with a difference. We go beyond the usual destination guides and top tips and delve a little deeper into the why and the how we travel. This travel and lifestyle blog is about getting out there and living the life that you want to live with authenticity and grace. Travel truly does have the power to change lives, often in the most surprising ways. From volunteering in rural India to attending a spiritual retreat in Thailand and falling in love on the road, Get A First Life is about both the inner and the outer journey that travelers embark upon.

Meet the Lifers…

Rick Twigg

Rick jumping around at Machu Picchu

Hailing from Perth in Australia, Rick has been traveling ever since he dropped out of college in 2009. Best decision of his life that, as he’ll no doubt tell you withing minutes of meeting him!

As of this writing Rick has visited in excess of forty countries, many of them in the developing world. His most memorable travel experience was volunteering as a teacher in Sierra Leone in 2012. His favorite country though, without a doubt, is Brazil. Nothing quite like Rio for Carnival!

More recently Rick’s been delving into online business and figuring out how to keep the money flowing without clocking in at a regular job every day. He likes to think he’s making progress, and indeed he has now reached a point where he can afford to shop in stores with walls and air conditioning 😉

Alan Carrigan

Alan is a bit like Rick’s older brother. In fact, he’s exactly like Rick’s older brother except for the fact that they grew up on different continents and have different parents and different skin color. But, you know, other than that…

Alan tries out the local transport in Morocco

Alan was born and raised in Wales in the UK, in a little town called Coedkernew, not far from Cardiff. Yes he likes rugby, and no, he does not find your sheep jokes funny. He’s also not inclined to laugh at the memory of the seven years he spent working in a cubicle before finally coming to his senses, quitting it all, and bolting to Southeast Asia. This was back in 2006, before it was even trendy.

In the years since Alan has fallen in love with many countries and cultures. He has a soft spot for India, and has visited several times. Initially he financed his travels by working odd jobs wherever he landed, including some horrible stints serving drinks in dodgy bars. Then he met the aforementioned Rick and learned the ways of online business. Not that he learned those ways from Rick, because Rick didn’t actually know much about it initially either. But he gave Alan the idea, and then they both started learning. Savvy?

These days you’ll likely find Alan spending 3-4 months of the year hopping around India, Christmas back in Wales, and who-knows-where in between. Life is short and the world is big, lots for a man to see and experience.